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By Jeremiah Okallany
Can death, despite the grief it brings, also bring people back together? In The Great Uniter, Jeremiah Okallany personifies Death as a feared yet strangely unifying presence. Through loss, mourning and shared memory, the poem explores how death can renew family bonds, revive forgotten connections and remind the living of the value of togetherness.
My Mistress, Death.
She is often feared for what She claims—
The lives of those loved,
The memories waiting to be made.
But when I look into Her eyes,
All I see is a Great Uniter.
When She visits the children of womb-man,
She visits the wound of Her own making—
For the womb gave breath,
And She collects the debt of breathing.
She leaves sorrow in Her wake,
One so deep, it aches
Yesterday, today, forever,
As She is eternal.
But that is where Her beauty lies:
Not given, but earned in the leaving.
When you look upon Her
With the wisdom of the single eye,
She becomes unbecoming.
The gift of loss
Is also the gift of resurrection
In the renewal of familial bonds,
As tears shared upon Her work
Fill Her cup.
The warmth of hugs,
The mist of forgotten laughter
Spilled over memories
Shared among the living.
It is a crossroads
She sits still and watches over—
The cherish of life swiftly departed,
The communion of those who were too busy,
The communion of those who rarely visit,
The communion of those afraid
And those brave.
Unity.
— Jeremiah Okallany
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